From @connect in my Twitter feed today:
I count 39 in this photo, including half bodies at far left. IMHO, 39 angry activists don’t speak for the country. Hansen, seen standing at far left in the grey fedora, keeps coming back for more, time and again. I wonder if there is some sort of “Three strikes” law for people like him? I’m reminded of a line in the movie, The Shawshank Redemption:
Andy Dufresne:
Maybe you should try a new career.
Tommy Williams:
What’s that?
Andy Dufresne:
I said, since you don’t have much success as a thief, you should try a new career.
Ryan Maue has some interesting takes on the photo op:
Heh.
UPDATE: (h/t to Latitude and NJ_Snow_Fan) James E Hansen was arrested again today according to Washington Post story.http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/activists-arrested-at-white-house-protesting-keystone-pipeline/2013/02/13/8f0f1066-75fa-11e2-aa12-e6cf1d31106b_story.html
UPDATE2: Ryan Maue notes via FB messaging: mote first line of second page of WashPo article on Keystone XL:
“The protest was well orchestrated and had an exclusive air about it, bringing together the elite of the environmental movement.”
…this was a “by-invitation only” protest with 38-45 people. WaPo nails it.
Discover more from Watts Up With That?
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
A generation ago, someone would look at this picture and wxclaim, “who is John Galt?”. Perhaps the modern expression should be “Where is Richard Winsor?”
I imagine they all made bond, more’s the pity. 😉
It’s a hippy-dippy bandwagon of environmental illness. Hansen’s aboard because it suits his anti-carbon agenda, and bolsters his already- monstrous ego.
That oil will find a market, whether we in the USA gain anything economically from it or not. The existing price difference between ETI and Brent Sea guarantees it.
In almost any business, you get repeatedly arrested you would get fired. But apparently, NASA feels Mr. Hansen is above reproach and he can keep his job.
The limp protest is only the implausible means to provide a poorly managed photo op with the tired old style media’s token environmental staffers. Yawn.
The real news story is that the nutty integrity variation shown in Hansen’s (the leader of NASA’s GISS) public persona unbalances his scientific thinking; an unbalanced scientific thinking well documented publicly via his bizarrely inaccurate and overtly exaggerated claims about climate related phenomena.
Although many of Hansen’s critics might think his scientific imbalance causes him to be vulnerable to integrity variations as means to promote his exaggerated claims, I think the inverse. I think a scientist’s integrity variation necessarily unbalances the application of the scientific method.
I recommend that Hansen should be suspended from association with NASA.
John
When does the “repeat offender” clause kick in?
Moderators,
My very recent comment disappeared without going into ‘awaiting moderation’ mode.
Can you check the WP nether regions for it?
Thanks, as always.
John
It’s a wonder Laura Dern wasn’t there. She’s perfect for this nonsense as her portrayal in Enlightened shows
I think Hansen missed a trick here.
He should have an auction where people offer to pay so that they can chain him (or Daryl Hannah) to the railings-proceeds going to a charity of his choice.
That isn’t a protest, it’s a five star jamboree, they probably all met up at a luxury hotel, before and after, their lawyers pre-warned that they would be arrested, they used fossil fuel to get there, fossil fuel created chains to protest, and probably finished the day at some fancy high end carbon consuming restaurant. No low carbon junk food for this green theatrical group.
Such protests of convenience can be quickly dissolved by the application of a misting spray from a fire-hose. Well they do believe that the world is getting too warm, don’t they?
Jeff L says:
February 13, 2013 at 1:04 pm
“including half bodies at far left” …. are we talking about the photo or politics …. maybe that should be “half minds on the far left”
:))
_________________________
make that “half wits”
Really? I’ve never heard of that, strange. Oh, that’s right, because it really isn’t true. Generally speaking, unless your outside activities directly impact your work (not saying Hansen’s don’t), employers tend not to care what you do on your own time as long as it does not reflect on them. Yeah, people that work with money better not be getting arrested for theft or fraud, and positions that are based on “image” will tend to be reserved for those avoiding negative television coverage, but by and large, show up on time, do your job well, and don’t piss in your boss’ coffee while being filmed by the office cam and you’re good to go.
I know Hansen deserves ridicule, but can’t there be at least some attempt to limit the hyperbole?
Mark
Darryl Hannah was just interviewed by Neil Cavuto. In my opinion she was incoherent.
Among her assertions:
1. She just learned “that wind power has just surpassed nuclear power” (sic). On what possible basis (or on what planet)?
2. We have to stop those things (presumably efforts like Keystone) that “MAKE US ILL” and ruin our environment.
Her major theme in the interview was that since the US will not utilize the “tar sand oil” (because we “already have more than we need “; and the only reason the pipeline is being built is to ship that oil to China. When asked if (hypothetically) it turned out that if ,in fact, the oil was indeed consumed in the US, would she still have objections. Enter incoherence, which then looped back to items 1 & 2.
(She also apparently assumes that if she is able to stop the pipeline, the Canadians will leave the oil in the ground.)
I have significantly self snipped.
Mark T says:
February 13, 2013 at 5:56 pmT
“In almost any business, you get repeatedly arrested you would get fired.
Really? I’ve never heard of that, strange. Oh, that’s right, because it really isn’t true. Generally speaking, unless your outside activities directly impact your work (not saying Hansen’s don’t), employers tend not to care what you do on your own time as long as it does not reflect on them.”
I guess you haven’t interviewed for what professionals call a “highly visible professional position.” Try working for a non-radical law firm, as an assistant to the VP of Finance for a corporation, or as a physician and making a public display of getting arrested for a misdemeanor. When you arrive at the front door the next morning the contents of you office will be on the sidewalk.
Can we call them climate criminals yet??
All should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Alas, we have a lot of airheads in govt and media who believe that anyone getting arrested for a sufficiently noble (i.e. “progressive”) cause should not face real penalties of law.
FerdinandAkin wrote;
“How does Dr. Hansen get away with this? If an ordinary GS-12 engineer with a security clearance was arrested in a street protest, they would be summarily fired.”
Probably not, security clearances are reviewed periodically and then a clearance may be revoked (and you do get a chance to challenge that). But until it’s revoked you would probably not be fired.
When you are granted a security clearance you are required to report future significant “life events”; financial problems (you could be bribed), serious health problems (if you are terminal you have nothing to lose), substance abuse problems (you probably can’t be trusted), sudden affluence (it’s ok if you can explain that new mansion as a large inheritance, but if you move from a simple ranch house to an estate you should have a good explanation (I won the lottery, here’s a copy of the winning ticket)), falling madly in love and marrying a foreign national (raises questions about loyalty), arrests for serious (DUI, felony) charges (judgement), etc. And you are required to report any knowledge you have about co-workers with similar problems.
Traffic tickets, misdemeanors (failing to disperse, etc) are not required to be reported.
Employment is totally between the employer and the employee, if the employer only has work that requires a clearance they may be able to let you go as unqualified for the workplace. Or they may just move you to other work that does not require a clearance. Firing people is a lot harder than it appears, you can’t just fire a person with a substance abuse problem, you have to warn them several times and offer them counseling (mostly state level rules which vary). Federal civil service rules are probably similar to state employment rules, although I have no direct knowledge of those rules.
Of course, I have only heard these things in passing from folks I know with security clearances. I do not claim to have direct knowledge of the specifics wrt security clearances.
Due to the nature of his work and his ability to publish freely in internationally accessible publications I do seriously doubt that the good Dr. Hansen has any security clearances.
And since he is not in a senior policy making position (much to his dismay I expect) he is not subject to the Hatch Act (at least as well as this non-lawyer can read it).
Cheers, Kevin.
So, here’s a man willing to risk arrest and reputation for a political cause. But I’m supposed to believe that Hansen can be trusted to make proper adjustments to temperature data without any bias that might favor the very same cause? Apparently, NASA fails to see even the possibility of a conflict of interest here. Scientists used to have at least the pretense of impartiality. When did they surrender their last bit of dignity to politics?
OldWeirdHarold says:
February 13, 2013 at 10:47 am
Explain to me again how buying oil from Saudi Arabia instead of Canada reduces CO2?
————
Easy answer Harold – for people in the Marxist climate cult, capitalist liberal democracy = bad, while Islamist terror exporting totalitarian state = good… You see Harold, all you need is a chart showing these people’s beliefs.
Oh Dear.
Little Jimmy E. Hansen, a pornographer at work and who enjoys his work.
A tear in the eye and a four-lief clover above the ear.
Mark T says:
February 13, 2013 at 5:56 pm
In almost any business, you get repeatedly arrested you would get fired.
Really? I’ve never heard of that, strange. Oh, that’s right, because it really isn’t true
Spoken like a true unionista. Try a real job,and you might be surprised. NASA/GISS will bear the bad press from this for many,many years,which they rightly deserve.
Theo said:
For chrissake’s, Theo, read what I was replying to and then re-read my reply. Yeah, I’m pretty sure the OP said just about any (paraphrased) and I replied that certainly jobs involving “image,” such as your two “high profile” examples, won’t take kindly to such thing. Get a grip, you’re usually more level-headed than this.
Hehe, as if you have one. Liberal Arts education much? Betcha can’t guess my career, ever, even though I’ve probably talked about what I do in here a million times. Oh please, please, try – I love it when simple minded folk make fools of themselves to the point at which I don’t even have to comment. When you do figure it out, and then don’t post because your quote here clearly won’t make sense, I’ll understand.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have been in two unions in my life (OCAW and The Teamsters), however, and I can honestly say – damn I’m glad those days are over.
They might deserve it, but they won’t get it. Nobody cares what James Hansen does, duh. Well, except for in the climate blogosphere.
Mark
Oh, and Theo, there’s a HUGE difference between trying to get a job (interviewing generally implies job search) with a criminal record, and getting fired from a current job due to petty criminal activity (particularly when you’re talking about freaking peace protest arrests). Sheesh.
Mark
Tim Ball says: How has he avoided being charged under the Hatch Act?
>>> 40+ years ago, during the golden age of protests, Forrest Gump discovered that these events were great places to meet girls who were, shall we say, notoriously liberal. So perhaps Hansen is trying to relive – or perhaps just live, for the first time – his fortunes from that era. In which case, it could be not the Hatch Act, but the curiously named Mann Act, that he ends up on the wrong side of.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_act